Keeping close watch Warming of Indian Ocean on seasonal, avian ‹u set to accelerate: study situation, says Centrend
Following the detection of avian inuenza virus among cattle and in milk in the U.S., the Union Health Ministry on Monday said hygienic practices such as boiling milk and cooking meat at adequate temperature would help prevent transmission of the virus from an infected product to human beings.
After a meeting with experts to review the situation, the Ministry stated that besides avian inuenza, it is keeping a close watch on the seasonal inuenza situation in various States and Union Territories through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network on a real-time basis, and warned that young children and the elderly with co-morbidities are the most vulnerable groups.
Seasonal inuenza is an acute respiratory infection caused by inuenza viruses that circulate in all parts of the world, and the cases increase during certain months globally.
No abnormal rise
“Since the rst case of Inuenza A H1N1 detected in 2009, every year India witnesses two peaks of this seasonal inuenza — one from January to March and the other in the post-monsoon season. As of now, there has been no abnormal alarming rise in cases of seasonal u in any part of the country,” the Ministry said.
The Ministry has directed real-time surveillance of cases of inuenza-like illness and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections in OPDs and IPDs of health facilities.
From 1950 to 2020, the Indian Ocean had become warmer by 1.2 degrees Celsius, and climate models expect it to heat up a further 1.7 degrees Celsius to 3.8 degrees Celsius from 2020 to 2100. While we are familiar with heatwaves on land, “marine heatwaves”, their counterparts in the sea and linked to the rapid formation of cyclones, are expected to increase tenfold from the current average of 20 days per year to 220-250 days per year.
‘One Hiroshima bomb’ Mostly attributable to global warming, the tropical Indian Ocean will likely be in a “near-permanent heatwave state” and accelerate coral bleaching, seagrass destruction, and loss of kelp forests, aecting the sheries sector adversely, said an analysis led by scientists at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
The heating of the ocean was not merely restricted to the surface but went deeper and increased the overall “heat content” of the ocean. The heat content of the Indian Ocean, when measured from surface to a depth of 2,000 metres, is currently increasing at the rate of 4.5 zetta-joules per decade, and is predicted to increase at a rate of 16–22 zetta-joules